Gong-bell



(No Model.)

9 E. G. BARTON.

No. 429,299. Patented June 331890.

I GONG BELL.

M 3 9 49. S M

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELIJAH C. BARTON, or EAsT HAMPTON, CONNECTICUT.

GONG-BELL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 429,299, dated June 3, 1890.

Application filed March 11, 1 890.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELIJAH O. BARTON, of East Hampton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gong- Bella, of which the following is a full,'clear, and exact description,whereby any one skilled in the art can make and use the same.

The object of my invention is to provide a gong-bell with a striking mechanism that shall be simple, compact, and cheap in construction and efficient in operation.

To this end my invention consists in a gongbell having a striking mechanism comprising a mainspring, a single connecting rod extending from the mainspring to the pull-wire, and a swinging hammer lever or tongue, with a short arm engaging a loop on the lever and plate; and it further consists in details of the several parts of the device and in their combination, as more particularly hereinafter descrlbed, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is a detail plan view of the gong-bell with partof the gong broken away on one side to disclose the striking mechanism. Fig. 2 is a detail View, in side elevation, of the striking mechanism with part broken away to show construction.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter a denotes a gong; b, thebase-plate having a post b, on which the gong is supported by being screwed onto the upper end of the post in the usual manner. The base-plate is preferably of metal cast to shape, with the integral post and other parts adapted to support details of the striking mechanism.

The mainspring c is coiled about the post I), with one end engaging the socket-piece b", and the other end forming a loop 19 and by that means attached to the connecting-rod cl. This rod is formed of a piece of wire having near its lower end a loop (1', formed by circular bends in the wire, and the lower end of the rod terminates with an eye, into which the end of the pull-wire e is hooked.

The hammerf' is borne on the end of the hammer lever or tongue f, that is pivotally supported on the post 9 on the base-plate in such a manner that the tongue swings in a plane substantially parallel tothe plane of the base-plate.

The hammer lever or tongue is preferably formed of wire in several coils near its inner end to form a socket for the post on which the lever is pivoted, while the short arm f of the lever has a downturned end f that passes through the loop d in the connecting-rod, and extends below it in such manner as to encounter a stop It at both limits of the swinging play of the tongue. This extent of movement of the hammer lever or tongue is governed by the size of the gong and the position of the striking-edge of the gong, the hammer underlying it and swinging from side to side, in the usual manner in bells of this class. I prefer to have the end f of the short arm f project into the slot 1, the ends of which form the stop-shoulders to limit the swinging play of the tongue. This is a very cheap and effective way of providing the stops.

The connecting-rod is a rigid structure from end to 7 end, from the point where it is connected to the end of the mainspring to a point beyond the loop that is engaged by the short arm of the hammer lever or tongue, and the effioiencyof the striking mechanism is in large part due to this construction of the connecting-rod. This rod is bent at or about the loop, the lower end of it extending downward in the direction of the line of pull, and the short arm of the hammer lever or tongue stands at an angle with this line of pull. The result of this construction and connec vtion of parts is that the greatest'resistance is offered to a pulling force at the beginning of the pull, the leverage being the greatest against the pulling force at that point and time, while as the hammer turns on its pivot the leverage in favor of the pulling force increases, and this occurs in such a manner as to give to the hammer an accelerated motion during its strokea result which would not follow if it were not for the peculiar arrangement of the parts described. The connecting-rod is attached to an extended arm of the mainspring, so that it pulls with its greatest effect when the short arm of the hammerlever is located at about right angles to the location of the longer part of the connectingrod-that is, in the normal position of the parts but when the hammer has been thrown toward the right the leverage against the return-pull is greatest, and on the return-stroke the hammer receives an accelerated motion.

I claim as my invention 1. In a gong-bell, a striking mechanism comprising a mainspring, a rigid connectingrod having a loop adapted to engage the short arm of the hammer-lever, the pivoted hammer-lever having a short arm with an end engaging the loop by turning down and passing through said loop and projecting so as to engage a stop at both limits of the swinging play of the hammer -lever, and the stops formed on the base-plate, all substantially as described.

2. In a gong-bell, in combination, the baseplate supporting the gong, the mainspring secured to the post supporting the gong, the rigid connecting-rod attached to the end of the mainspring and having a loop formed by a coil in the rod, the hammer-lever pivotally supported in the base-plate and having a 

